Royal Challengers Bangalore outplay Rajasthan Royals

April 21, 2013

Royal_Challengers

Bangalore, Apr 21: Winning convincingly is something new to Royal Challengers Bangalore this year and Saturday was a start.

But faced with an easy chase of 118 in their 100th T20 match overall, the hosts nearly threatened another close finish before holding their nerve to seal a seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals with 2.1 overs to spare at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.

Chris Gayle (49 not out, 44b, 4x4, 1x6) led the way again on a night when skipper Virat Kohli failed probably for the first time with the bat this season and AB de Villiers defied logic by throwing his wicket away cheaply again.

However, Gayle and Saurabh Tiwary (25 not out, 29b, 2x4, 1x6) impressed to finish the job after Tillakaratne Dilshan (25, 22b, 5x4, 0x6) provided the acceleration early on in the innings.

Earlier, Royals played the role of good visitors, handing RCB the advantage with a performance that lacked bite.

Asked to bat first, Rahul Dravid's men collapsed from promising positions before surrendering at 117 all out as RCB's pace quartet of R Vinay Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Rampaul and RP Singh accounted for nine Royals wickets.

Shane Watson was the first to go as he attempted an uppish drive off Ravi Rampaul only to find Murali Kartik at mid-off in the third over.

With Dravid playing the holding role, Ajinkya Rahane carted Rampaul for a six in the fifth over. Trying too hard to force the issue, he then perished for 14, skying Jaydev Unadkat's slower one to a waiting Dilshan at point.

The script then seemed perfect for Bangalore boys Stuart Binny and Dravid as they set about stabilizing the Royals innings. Binny quickly turned aggressor with a flat six behind square-leg in Murali Kartik's first over.

The Karnataka lad raced to 33 off 19 balls before trying to pull a widish one from Man-of-the-Match Vinay Kumar, offering wicketkeeper Arun Karthik an easy catch in the 10th over.

Dravid then sought to increase the scoring rate himself with a couple of neatly-timed boundaries. However, he fell victim to Kartik's persistent pressure in the 14th over.

Trying to clear the long-on boundary, Dravid (35, 31b, 5x4, 0x6) mistimed a full toss which went straight to Rampaul. The skipper's wicket was a deep gash in Royals' flesh at the time and the bleeding just didn't stop thereafter.

Jadeja powers Super Kings to victory

Jadeja_powersKolkata, Apr 21: Chennai Super Kings made heavy weather of a small chase before Ravindra Jadeja's blitzkrieg powered the visitors to a four-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in a Pepsi Indian Premier League match here today.

Chasing a paltry 120, the Super Kings found themselves in a tight corner when they were reduced to 89 for six in the 17th over.

But Jadeja (36 off 14) meant business and used his long handle to great effect to wrap up the issue for CSK. He shared an unbeaten 35-run partnership with Dwayne Bravo (7) to guide CSK home.

Apart from Jadeja, Mike Hussey (40 off 51) played a sensible innings at the top to keep CSK in the hunt even thought wickets kept falling at the other end.

With CSK needing 27 runs from the last three overs, the Knight Riders brought in their trump card Sunil Narine in the 18th over, but Jadeja hit the bowler straight over his head for a huge six.

Jadeja got a huge reprieve when Yusuf Pathan dropped him at the square leg boundary as he continued his assault with three boundaries in Kallis' penultimate over that reduced the equation to two runs from the last over.

Jadeja was in no mood to relent even though the game was under their control. He pulled Pathan over midwicket boundary for another six to help the Super Kings wrap up the issue with five balls to spare.

Like Knight Riders, the Super Kings had a surprise up their sleeve when they sent Ravichandran Ashwin (11) to open the innings along with Hussey. But the move failed outrightly as the visitors had a sloppy start to their low chase.

Narine gave KKR breakthrough in the fifth over, dismissing Ashwin while Senanayake, who opened the proceedings with Balaji, ran through his four overs and gave the team their second wicket in the form of Murali Vijay (2).

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Jeddah, Jan 9: Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde criticised the new Supercopa format and said that "football has become a business and as a business it looks for income".

"The bottom line is football has become a business and as a business it looks for income. That's the reason we are all here," Goal.com quoted Valverde as saying ahead of Barca's semi-final against Atletico.

"It's a completely different format to what we're used to. It was always the first title and the opener of the season and to me, that seemed fine," he added.

The Supercopa was traditionally a two-legged affair played between the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey at the beginning of the season, but following last term's one-off meeting between Barca and Sevilla in Tangier, Morocco, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) went ahead with a full revamp.

Instead of just two teams being involved, the Supercopa has been expanded to also include the runners-up from La Liga and the Copa - meaning Barca and Valencia are joined by Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. It is also set to be hosted in Saudi Arabia for the next three editions.

"It's been changed and let's see, it will be judged once it has happened. It's interesting, with four good teams, but from a sporting point of view, I'm not sure," Valverde said.

"We must bear in mind that the football we are involved in is an industry, sources of income are sought and in the same way that there are special connotations in this country, there are also in Morocco, where we played last year," he added.

Barcelona will face Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Supercopa at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on January 10.

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News Network
May 9,2020

May 9: Filipina weightlifting star Hidilyn Diaz noticed live-streamed concerts were collecting money for coronavirus relief and was struck by inspiration: why not raise funds with an online workout?

Since then the Olympic silver-medallist -- and strong contender for her country's first Games gold -- has made enough money to buy food packs for hundreds of hard-hit families in the Philippines.

Diaz has done it all from Malaysia, where she was training to qualify for the now-postponed Tokyo Olympics when much of the world locked down against the virus in March.

"I thought (distribution) would be impossible because I'm not physically present," Diaz, 29, told news agency.

"It's a good thing that I have trusted friends and trusted family members who understand why we need to do a fundraising."

That circle of supporters has handed out the packages, which include vegetables, eggs and rice, to more than 400 families.

The food was bought with donations from about 50 people who joined sessions that lasted up to three hours, and gave them a rare chance to train with an elite athlete.

Diaz rose to fame in 2016 after snagging a surprise silver in the 53 kilogramme category in Rio, becoming the Philippines' first female Olympic medallist and ending the nation's 20-year medal drought at the Games.

Two years later, she won gold at the Asian Games in Indonesia.

However, her quest to qualify for Tokyo is on hold ahead of the Games' rescheduled opening in July 2021.

"I thought all the hard work would soon be over... then it was extended," she said. "But I'm still thankful I can still continue with (the training) I need to do."

Still, the lockdown broke her daily training regimen, keeping her away from weights for 14 days for the first time in her career.

"I felt like I was losing my mind already. I've been carrying the barbell for 18 years and all of a sudden it's gone. Those were the kinds of anxiety that I felt," she said.

But she got access to some equipment, and with her coach's urging, got back to work. She was relieved to find her strength was still there.

Instead of a Tokyo berth, the past months have been about a different kind of accomplishment for Diaz: helping her countrymen get through the coronavirus crisis.

Rosemelyn Francisco's family in Zamboanga City, Diaz's home town, is one of the first to get help from the athlete's initiative, and is deeply grateful.

Her family was not wealthy to begin with, and the pandemic has cost her husband his construction job.

"The food she donated has all everything we need, including eggs," said Francisco, 27.

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